Nashville

The Greenhornes @ Mercy Lounge, 4/16/11

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What do you get when you put four of the skinniest dudes in Nashville onstage? In this case, you get a great set from PUJOL, who had a busy Record Store Day with an earlier set at Rocketown before heading over to Mercy to open for The Greenhornes. It was Sean Thompson’s and Joey Scala’s last show with PUJOL before they’re off to focus on their new band, Promised Land (which also includes Jamin of JEFF the Brotherhood and Jessi of Those Darlins), and they finished with a typically stripped-down and roughly stylish set. To use a tootsie pop analogy, PUJOL’s songs are sugary and hooky on the surface (whenever they play “Butterflyknife,” it gets stuck in my head for about 17 damn years), and at the core there are a lot of frayed, guttural riffs The Stooges could be proud of. So hurray for PUJOL!

Next was Hacienda, a foursome who illustrated their Mexican-American origins with some loose and rolling rock reminiscent, at many times, of The Band. “We’re from San Antonio,” bassist/vocalist Rene Villanueva announced. Of course they are. Something about their boots and belted jeans was kind of pointing to the southwest. And amid the pounding of the keyboard, lush guitars and Jaime Villanueva’s ceaseless energy on the drum set, it felt like all the girls there were probably thinking, “Hm. I kind of want them.” While all the guys there were probably thinking, “Hm. I kind of want them.” The set was loose, energetic and Tex-Mex flavored, and included a cover of “Bule Bule,” sung by keyboardist Abraham Villanueva, for their friends The Greenhornes! Who were up next!

And oh, such riffage! Long, scraggly hair hanging over their instruments, it was all denim-and-vinyl retro rock ‘n’ roll with bass-heavy blues, glowering keys and Craig Fox and Jack Lawrence trading off on vocals. Oh, and some intense, sweaty drum solos from Patrick Keeler. The Greenhornes have a distinct and not quite definable aesthetic, from Lawrence’s obnoxiously black hair and matching glasses to that jaguar splashed across the kick drum (and the cover of their latest album, ****), and it added to the songs as they stretched out into entrancing instrumental jams. They’re fans of the lingering finish, always prolonging that last chord, and everyone was grateful that they did. – Jessica Pace

Philadelphia

FREE Philly-Paris Lockdown Post-show Party w/?uestlove, DJ AfroDJiak & Rich Medina at Kimmel Center April 17

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This one falls under the category of cool cheap dates. Following ?uestlove’s Philly-Paris Lockdown featuring international singer-songwriter Keren Ann and plenty of special guests (that’s not the “cheap” part), ?uesto will be spinning at a FREE post-show party in the Perelman Theater with DJ AfroDJiak and Rich Medina (now that’s the “cool cheap” part). So here is your chance to get a little classy and a little sassy on South Broad! Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St., 10pm, FREE, All Ages (Photo by Henry Adebonojo) – H.M. Kauffman  
 
Philadelphia

The Strapping Fieldhands and Hermit Thrushes Open for Danielson at JB’s April 17

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Tonight at Johnny Brenda’s is a meeting of some “old heads” (term used in the most respectful way) who have helped to lay the foundation for our burgeoning local indie music scene. The Strapping Fieldhands have been sporadically performing out again since their recent resurgence. Originally creating music simply for their own amusement with no real plans of ever releasing anything, it seems like their body of work has withstood the test of time, and feels more fitting on the landscape of music scene in this day and age than when they were first written and recorded. They’ll be opening for proud New Jersey native Daniel Smith and his ever-evolving project Danielson. He returns with a mostly new crew of collaborators which also includes impressive contributions by core member Sufjan Stevens on banjo and vocals as well as vocals from Jens Lekman on his latest release Best of Gloucester County. Hermit Thrushes will also be tossing in their avant-garde folk compositions into the mix for the evening. (You can check out their recent Daytrotter session HERE.) Johnny Brenda’s, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9pm, 10 adv/$12 door, 21+ – H.M. Kauffman
 

 

Philadelphia

Watery Love & Spacin’ Beer-BQing at The El Bar April 17

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This rain has been fuckin’ ridiculous! But it looks like it’s going to let up for today. Are you suffering from a little cabin fever? Well, No Wavelength has a cure for your madness with some madness of their own so swing by The El Bar for an early evening Beer-BQ in their backyard and musical performances. Former Clockcleaner Richie Charles’ new punk band Watery Love with Espers’ Meg Baird on skins will be headlining the festivities with support from lo-fi party rockers Spacin’, who have been making my head bob and toes tap for a while now. It’s the side project of Birds of Maya’s Jason Killinger. (More tracks, please!) Sandwiched between the two local acts are Cleveland’s post punk outfit Pleasure Leftists. The El Bar, 1356 N. Front St., 6pm, $5, 21+ – Alexis V.
 
Philadelphia

Save Gonzo Benefit at M Room April 17

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With a little fennec fox in danger, several artists, musicians, and dancers are going to come together for a benefit to help Save Gonzo tonight at the M Room. Gonzo is in need of spinal surgery that will cost $3500, and to help raise funds 36+ artists have donated some of their works that will be auctioned off throughout the night. The evening will also feature burlesque dancing and musical performances. He may be the little bro of Kurt, but tonight Sam Vile will show you rhythmic guitar and constant hitmaking surely runs in the family with his band Vilebred. John the Conqueror will also unleash a dirge of rollicking blues in the vein of Black Keys, and Cold Roses and multi-instrumentalist Isaac Hurt will be rounding out the bill. M Room, 15 W. Girard Ave., 7pm, Donations, 21+ – Bill McThrill
 
Philadelphia

A.K.A. Music Makes Rolling Stone’s List of The Best Record Stores in the USA!

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Congrats to A.K.A. Music for making Rolling Stone’s list of “The Best Record Stores in the USA”! The honor to Michael Hoffman and crew are well-deserved. You can check out what Rolling Stone had to say about our local beloved record store HERE as well some others that you might want to visit throughout the country. Cheers! (Photo by Alberto D’Ottavi) – The Deli Staff
 
L.A.

Cassettes Won’t Listen announce upcoming album Kevinspacey – Free download of “The Echoes”

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Besides being my favorite actor (screw American Beauty, it’s all about K-PAX), Kevinspacey is also the upcoming album of Jason Drake’s project Cassettes Won’t Listen due in June. This LA-based multi-instrumentalist by way of Brooklyn, the followup to 2008’s Small-Time Machine was three years in the making.

I got a hold of a track off Kevinspacey entitled "The Echoes". It comes in initially with glitch samples before bringing in the signature sound of warbling LFO’ed dubstep bass synth. The main melody feels like a throwback to Mega Man NES cartridges, but with a far smoother attack than the grind of a retro midi synth. Drake’s filtered vocals draw similarities to San Francisco’s The Ay Cad, although far less pop-minded they sink into the mix adding another layer of electro-flavor.

Get your hands on "The Echoes" here.

You can get Cassettes Won’t Listen’s Small-Time Machine as a free download through his Facebook page. Be forewarned, while the album is worth it you do have to Like the page, sign up for the mailing list, download a file with a document that has the album link, then download the album — a daunting task.

Drake’s bi-costal collective, Daylight Cerfew, has in the works plans for monthly concerts and art shows. We’ll be keeping our ear to the ground for them.

-Angelo Lorenzo

L.A.

It’s Record Store Day!

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Ozzy Seal

It’s Record Store Day today! The second best holiday of the year (What’s the best you ask? Arbor Day.). It’s the day where hundreds of independent record stores across the world join forces to celebrate musical culture and their important place in local communities.

Record stores are slowly being supplanted by big chain stores, iTunes, and other online music outlets, but it’s all so impersonal. Walk into a record store and you can buy imported music that, heaven forbid, iTunes says you can’t download because you’re in the US. Ask the cashier his favorite band and he might point you to an obscure 80’s hair band that you fall in love with.

Record Store Day’s official website has a list of participating record stores in California here. Origami Vinyl will be planning some amazing giveaways all day, while Ameba Music will have an awesome menu of limited edition LPs and CDs and live performances including a guest DJ spot with Henry Rollins and a performance from the band Fucked Up. Get out and buy some music kids!

-Angelo Lorenzo

Philadelphia

Hop Along Open for SOLD OUT Yoni Wolf Shows at FUC Chapel April 16

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Tonight Hop Along will be playing back to back shows inside the intimate chapel of the First Unitarian Church with Why? frontman Yoni Wolf. In fact, she is playing back to back to back shows, with a third show added on Sunday after the first two sold like hot cakes. Frontwoman Frances Quinlan’s manic and delicate voice will be especially entrancing in this resonant space. Unfortunately, Hop Along had to cancel their SXSW tour this year due to financial difficulties, but with a new album set to be released by the end of the year, we will hopefully be seeing Quinlan and Co. around more and more. Hop Along has been filled out in recent years with Frances’ brother Mark on Drums and Tyler Long on Bass along with Dominic Angellela lending a hand on guitar when he isn’t playing a show with one of the 50 other bands that he is in. With the hushed feel of the chapel we may see a toned down version of Hop Along, but regardless it is definitely worth getting there early for. All three shows are super sold out so your best bet might be to bribe the R5 door guys with some tasty treats. First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St., 8pm, SOLD OUT, All Ages (Photo by Sarah Green) – Adam G.
 
Philadelphia

Lion Versus EP Release Party at North Star Bar April 16

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I conducted a little experiment for over a year when I first started writing for The Deli. I knew that Philly had plenty of talented young artists who weren’t getting any exposure for one reason or another so I decided to scour MySpace each week (when it was still somewhat relevant) to find acts that I liked with a thousand friends or less (remember when people used to “friend” each other instead of “like”) to give fledgling acts a little exposure and support. My column was called “Artist(s) Who Deserve Your Friendship”, and it was really so much fun to discover and write about musicians who most people had never really heard about before. If you happen to have been following The Deli during that time, you may have noticed a lot of those acts that I wrote about eventually getting more press from other media outlets (more of a testament to their talent than my writing, of course) which was very cool to see. Well, a while back I came across tracks like “Rid Thyself” and “I Am (the springtime)” from Lion Versus and was instantly captivated by lead singer-songwriter Hilary White’s sultry vocals and beautifully poetic verses. So much so that I booked her for one of our showcases before ever seeing her perform live which I never do. I didn’t know this at the time, but White had just moved here from Savannah, GA, and she was at a crossroad. She was “trying to get back into playing music again, but felt a bit discouraged.” White recently sent me an e-mail thanking me for the piece that I had written for my column letting me know how it really encouraged her to continue trying, which was quite touching and encouraging to me. Well, the duo that once performed at our showcase is now a full blown 7-piece band that is celebrating the release of their new EP Five Hearts tonight at North Star Bar, and you should definitely go support as well as check out White’s other artwork HERE! Lion Versus will be joined by fabulous orchestral pop ensemble Cuddle Magic, Perseverance Jazz Band and The Horrible Department. North Star Bar, 2639 Poplar St., $8, 21+ – Q.D. Tran
 


Philadelphia

When I Was 12, Gypsy Death and You, and Caboder at DDG April 16

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Tonight at Danger Danger Gallery is the kind of bill we at the Deli like to see. Sonically, these bands are radically different but great for the same reason people like trail mix and internet porn, because variety is king. The crocheting, cupcake popsters When I Was 12 have been repeatedly struck by cupid’s arrow and somehow lived to sing about it. They just booked a six-week summer tour, so you better see them now before they take their twee folk show on the road. Warming up the crowd will be relative newcomers Gypsy Death and You who make dreamy fuzzed out indie rock that can have both no-wave and pop tendencies from song to song. The duo has been playing out a bunch and is prepping the release of a new EP according to their twitter conversation with an Indonesian fan.  Caboder who have the distinct ability to play anywhere and everywhere will be bringing their infectious slacker indie pop/rock. All these Philly bands are supporting New Jersey neighbors Slow Animal for what is sure to be a fun evening to close out Record Store Day. See you there! Danger Danger Gallery, 5013 Baltimore Ave., 8pm, $5 – $10 Donation, All Ages (Photo by Melissa Cell) – Adam G.